JANUARY 2014

Thursday, December 26, 2013

The weekend after Thanksgiving, we went on a hunt at a local tree farm to find the perfect Christmas tree. With our two little helpers in tow, we found it! It was a bit chilly, but we enjoyed the adventure that started the Christmas season.

The last Monday in November we went to the library for Family Fun Night. The activity was making a paper chain. This was new to Clare so I thought she might be interested. Nope! She couldn't work the industrial stapler. She wanted to use her glue stick on the entire strip of paper. She just didn't have any interest. Within a few minutes she said, "Mommy, can I go see that baby over there and make her happy by teaching her how the train pieces work?" Yes you can, my sweet Clare, I'll finish the paper chain!

There was one craft the kids enjoyed on Thanksgiving and that included a glue stick and feathers! They made turkeys from their hand prints, followed by gluing feathers on the "fingers." They also enjoyed the failed "turkey" that I attempted to bake with rolls.

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house last month. It was a great time. The kids were bored with the toilet paper turkey craft. It was pretty lame! I need to work on that next year! Clare & I had fun making a Thanksgiving mix for her preschool class. She was in charge of the snack the week of Thanksgiving. She said the other kids in her class didn't like the dried cranberries so they tossed them in the trash. But everyone ate their candy corn.

In mid-November, Luke fell off the dining chair and hit the tile floor face first. Luckily, there were no cracked teeth. He split his lip open. We decided not to visit the ER, and to let it heal itself. A popsicle was the healing medicine. (The lip healed within 5 days).

Thursday, November 14, 2013

We used markers to make dots on a coffee filter. Then I introduced a small bowl of water to "sprinkle" on the coffee filter. He was a little interested in seeing the colors blend and change colors. And then, well, and then, I imagine his thought process went something like this: "lets dump the water on the coffee filter mom because this science experiment sucks! And then, just for fun, how about I squeeze the water from the coffee filter, and then roll it into a ball and use it as a wash cloth." You win some you lose some. But it never surprised me that he went this route! It was actually pretty entertaining for me.

Luke is very smart. Seriously, he's very smart. He speaks very well. People tell me so!! He can say the ABC's, he can count to 12, he can sing songs, he can spell his name, he knows all the shapes, and he knows his colors. Well, all his colors except YELLOW. Why is that one so hard? I decided to have a yellow themed week in a strong effort to teach my boy the color yellow. (This little set up of yellow mayhem is not typical in our home). We had a lot of fun. Clare did too. We used the Spanish version of yellow for her. With in three days of intense training, I mean of sweet nurturing love, he knows yellow. Welcome yellow. Welcome to Luke's world of colors. I wonder if this same training, I mean nurturing, will get him potty trained in three days? We celebrated by making coffee filter turkeys.

Hey, remember that leaf hunt that didn't entertain my kids for more than 3 minutes? Well, add some paint to the formula and my kids are busy for an hour. Pure bliss. They painted each leaf and pressed them on paper to make leaf prints. Some how, wine corks were added to the mix to make a colorful fall tree. There was some hand painting along the way. And then we ended the activity with pressing a leaf between two sheets of paper and rubbing a crayon over it to see the outline of the leaf and its stem. (I sat this one out. I drank wine so each of my kids had a wine cork for stamping).

Our local library has a family fun night every Monday evening for all ages. Clare & I have attended three so far. It's a lot of fun for us. This past week we built a fairy house. It was Clare's favorite. I think she liked pouring the glue more than actually designing the house, but that's okay. That's why I'm here. I did catch myself half way through the building process being a bit too concerned about the placement of the pine cone on the roof. What is wrong with me?!

Every year on Veteran's Day we make patriotic pictures and bake yummy treats for the Vets at the VA hospital in town. I feel it's a good message and generous service for the kids to experience. Clare remembered some the history to Veteran's Day when we started talking about it this year. When we started baking the cupcakes, Clare said, "Can we make a heart cookie for the Veteran to tell him that we love him?"

We have good friends that live four houses down from us, so Clare & I went trick or treating with her and their four kids. It was nice for 45 minutes and then the rain paid a visit. Clare had a blast! We made our own candy buckets with Happy Saints to tie All Saints Day in with the fun of Halloween. (I love the artwork by Vector for the Saints. Visit his website to download printables: www.happysaints.com).

Our first leaf hunt was not so successful. Clare enjoyed it for about three leafs. Luke had more fun tossing the paint samples out of the bag. Then he was off playing in a left over pile of sand from the previous owners. But the weather was beautiful, and we had fun being outside. The idea of a leaf hunt came from several online mom blogs. I decided to use the paint samples in the bag as an easier way for my toddlers to hang on to their treasures. We walked around our new neighborhood looking for leafs that matched the paint samples. Easy and educational. (For those of you who know me well, I finished the leaf hunt and enjoyed every minute of it)!

We moved in mid-October! The weekend of our move, the kids and I went to the lake for three days, while Daddy and his buddies moved our belongings from the farmhouse to our new house. He's amazing. My mom is also amazing. She stayed at our new house for five days and unpacked 50% of our boxes. She rocks! When we got in the car for our road trip to the lake, I had two new stuffed animals for the kids. Both enjoyed their new Dr. Seuss friends during the car ride. (I think they still have these furry friends in their bed today). It was a little sad. We had a good talk on the way to the lake. The kids enjoyed their visit with the grandparents. It was fairly nice weather so we played outside often. I like the picture of Luke on his hot rod looking at the lake and boat wondering "why aren't we on that boat right now." I also like the picture of Luke asking Clare to hold his hand on this ride at the local park.

Back in early October, Clare & I headed to Chicago with my mom to visit my cousin and her family. Luke and Daddy stayed at the lake for a boys weekend. It was a great visit, as it always is. We ate good food all weekend. We went to a pumpkin patch. We shared a lot of laughs. It was the perfect little getaway. (Clare has asked several times if we can get a pony some day).